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Elementary school getting new classrooms

By KATIE TAMMEN / Daily News

Published: Monday, November 18, 2013 at 02:36 PM.

FREEPORT — In the late spring, construction will begin again at another Walton County school.

Freeport Elementary School will see at least six additional classrooms with two more possible to accommodate continued growth, according to Mark Gardner, the director of facilities for Walton County schools.

“We have no vacant classrooms and we’re already seeing a big push that parents in the area want to start enrolling pre-K,” Gardner said. “If this is the trend, these numbers are going to keep increasing as (the students) go up (in grade).”

About $2.5 million has been set aside for this project, he added.

Three portable classrooms were recently added to the school and they are already full. Since the end of the previous school year, the school has seen its enrollment increase by 35 students.

Over the long term, the district is looking to build another school for Freeport students in Hammock Bay.

Crystal Beach Development donated 31.5 acres of land to the school district earlier in the year. The district is looking at building a 4-8 grade school on the property as more homes are built and occupied there, Gardner said.

Planning for the property could start as soon as the end of the current school year.

If the proposal stayed in its current form, all the students from Freeport Middle School would be moved to the new location and the old facility would become some sort of special area school, Gardner said.

Nothing is definite for that property, other than a decision needs to be made in the next 15 years so the property doesn’t revert to the original owner, he said.

FREEPORT — In the late spring, construction will begin again at another Walton County school.

Freeport Elementary School will see at least six additional classrooms with two more possible to accommodate continued growth, according to Mark Gardner, the director of facilities for Walton County schools.

“We have no vacant classrooms and we’re already seeing a big push that parents in the area want to start enrolling pre-K,” Gardner said. “If this is the trend, these numbers are going to keep increasing as (the students) go up (in grade).”

About $2.5 million has been set aside for this project, he added.

Three portable classrooms were recently added to the school and they are already full. Since the end of the previous school year, the school has seen its enrollment increase by 35 students.

Over the long term, the district is looking to build another school for Freeport students in Hammock Bay.

Crystal Beach Development donated 31.5 acres of land to the school district earlier in the year. The district is looking at building a 4-8 grade school on the property as more homes are built and occupied there, Gardner said.

Planning for the property could start as soon as the end of the current school year.

If the proposal stayed in its current form, all the students from Freeport Middle School would be moved to the new location and the old facility would become some sort of special area school, Gardner said.

Nothing is definite for that property, other than a decision needs to be made in the next 15 years so the property doesn’t revert to the original owner, he said.